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There are many myths and persistent ideas about starting something new. Wait till Fall to start looking for a new job, wait till Spring to start cleaning and de-cluttering your house wait till January to start a new planner. Don’t fall victim! Here’s why NOW is the best time to start a bullet journal.
When I first stumbled upon Ryder Carroll’s ingenious system, the bullet journal it was April. I spent the next 8 months curating inspiration, pictures, tutorials, supplies and anything else I could in preparation for the following January. January, since you know, you have to wait for the new year to start a new planner.
I wrote out collection ideas, practiced my lettering, tried to decide where I wanted to put different elements. And my plans changed many times. But not because I knew what would work, but because I didn’t know what would work.
And I didn’t know since I hadn’t started.
Why You Haven’t Started Yet
There are probably a few reasons you’re hanging back when it comes to starting your first bullet journal. They might even be some of the reasons I’ve eluded to above.
- It’s not the right time of the [week, month, year]
- You don’t have the right supplies
- You don’t know enough about the system
- There’s doubt about your ability to create a beautiful journal
- You’ve been intimidated by too many Youtube videos and Instagramable journals.
All of these things are reasonable to think. Everyone, myself included, started off having these same fears. It’s April. I’m not a good drawer. I don’t have a dotted notebook or Tombow brush pens. I love ______’s account but I could never make something like their spread, even if I had the time to try!
Let’s talk about these things.
- Related: How to start a bullet journal for beginners
- Related: How to fix mistakes in your bullet journal
Not the right time
So I started to research the bullet journal in the Spring of 2016. But I didn’t start until January of 2017. I was plodding along with my current planning system that was flawed and not organizing me in the way that I wanted it to.
I kept at it hoping that it would carry me through and I stayed less productive for 8 whole months before I switched to my bullet journal for no reason other than I thought I had to wait til the New Year.
It’s like using a pen that’s running out of ink and is all patchy. Wouldn’t you just go get a new pen if the one you had wasn’t working?
No matter what time of the year or month it is, the bullet journal is flexible enough so that you can start at any time and have it work. Why handicap yourself from your ability to be productive just because of some silly notion that there is a “right time” to start something.
You don’t have the supplies
Ok, so you can start any time you feel like it but what if you don’t have archival ink pens? Brush pens? A dotted journal? A Stencil set!?!
The bullet journal doesn’t need any of these things! If this is one of the things you’re worried about, you’re still holding yourself back. All you need to start a bullet journal is a notebook of any kind and a pen that works.
As you get comfortable with the system you can incorporate stylistic details, decoration, an expensive journal. And, even then, it’s only if you really want to.
You don’t know enough about the system
The bullet journal is designed to be an incredibly easy system of organization and productivity in order to make it simple for you to start and stick with it.
There are four main components: the index, the future log, the monthly log and the daily log. The index tells you where to find things you’ve written. The future gives you a place to put things that are happening a ways down the road. The monthly log is where you put your priorities and things to remember and the daily log is where you put all your thoughts, tasks and events.
That’s seriously all you need to know.
If I asked you to do this right now, you would be able to.
No excuses. You can start a bullet journal today.
The problem comes in when we over analyze and end up in an paralysis by analysis predicament. When you learn a bunch of different ways to do something it’s hard to choose which way to try yourself. I always recommend starting with thinking about why you want to start a journal and design your own around that.
If you really do want some straightforward help, go ahead and sign up for the free course below.
You really want it to turn out a certain way
Ok, so I’m going to throw number 4 and 5 together here since they do go hand in hand.
After cruising through all the beautiful bullet journals out there while “researching” and falling down the internet rabbit hole, you want your journal to look like all the ones you’ve seen. One of two things happen when you get to this point.
You might think, I’m not that artistic. There’s no way I could make a journal that looks like that. Or, damn, I don’t have the time to make it look like that and if it’s not like that I’m not doing it right.
Both of these things are probably false.
It doesn’t have to look any specific way. What it does need to be is functional and useful for you. That’s it.
What you see online is personal branding. The bullet journal Youtubers and Instagramers show you their best spreads. The ones that turned out just so. A lot of the time these are spreads designed and created just for showcasing. Some of them don’t actually end up being used and many of them are the product of tons of trial and error.
Don’t compare your artistic abilities to these people and don’t let their talent inhibit you from taking a real step forward in your productivity.
- Related: The Best Bullet Journal Supplies
- Related: How to Set Up a Monthly Spread
Why now is the best time to start a bullet journal
No matter when you’re reading this post, now is the best time to start a bullet journal.
One of the reasons that I felt like I couldn’t switch in April was that I had an agenda that I was using and if I stopped using it, it would stay blank. Effectively being wasted. I hate wasting things.
The great thing about the bullet journal is that there aren’t those types of constraints. You can start any time, miss days or even months, fill things in “wrong”, leave things blank. You can do anything you want and all it does is teach you something about yourself.
If you pay attention, you can notice trends in what you record. You’ll see that you never use certain trackers but always set up your calendar a certain way. You’ll notice that you get more productive when you’re held accountable by a check list or less so when that list is somewhere in your journal that you don’t remember.
But you can only learn what works for you by starting and using the system. So stop putting it off. Now is the best time to start a bullet journal. Now is the only time to start. Stop freezing thinking about perfection and, instead, start working on your perfect system. The one that makes you the most organized and productive.
It never occurred to me that some of those over the top pages I see aren’t used. Thank you for the reality check.
I know right! Thanks for reading 🙂
Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other
websites? I have a blog based on the same information you discuss and would
really like to have you share some stories/information.
I know my readers would value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.
I so needed this pep talk! I have the notebook and pen ready to go but have been afraid to start. I am starting right now with my index!
That’s great to hear Patricia, I’m glad it helped 🙂 Just starting is a huge step so way to go!